Pakistan Pakistan Election 2024 News & Updates

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Azam Nazeer Tarar, the former law minister of PMLN has declared that PMLN has attained majority in Punjab with independents, not affiliated with PTI, joining. He is saying the number is somewhere above 150 close to 155 so that means out of those 22 independents, 17 have joined PMLN. Punjab government will be PMLN unless something drastic happens

 

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PML-N Presses Its Advantage​

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Sunday agreed to a political alliance in a future government as the former pressed its advantage as the largest party elected to the national assembly.

The PML-N secured around 75 seats in the National Assembly during the February 8 general elections to become the largest party in the national assembly (even though the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed candidates secured 93 seats, they contested as independents and thus cannot be counted as a formal party in the NA or any other assembly). It secured 137 seats in the Punjab Assembly, just one less than PTI-backed independents and 12 shy of the magic number to form government in the province. In Balochistan, it could only secure six seats compared to 11 each by the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F).

The PMl-N announced plans to form a government in the centre and Punjab, apart from harbouring a prospect of forming a coalition government in Balochistan.

Subsequently, the PML-N became active in wooing independent candidates and securing coalitions to form governments.

It started by contacting politically un-aligned independent candidates who won the February 8 elections at the national and provincial levels to bolster its numbers. Legally, independents are bound to choose whether to join an elected political party within 72 hours of elections or remain independent for the remainder of their tenure.

It also contacted other political parties hoping to strike an alliance, including the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the MQM-P. The PML-N will also seek to entice the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F).

PML-N and MQM-P agree to an alliance

On Sunday, the PML-N and MQM-P agreed to a political alliance in a future government.

The decision was taken during an hour-long meeting between a delegation of the MQM-P led by convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif at Raiwind.

Others who attended the meeting included PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Organiser and Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz, Senator Ishaq Dar, PML-N General Secretary Ahsan Iqbal, PML-N Punjab President Rana Sanaullah, former NA Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, former federal ministers Khawaja Saad Rafique, Marriyum Aurangzeb, and Rana Mashhood.

The MQM-P delegation included Dr Siddiqui, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori, Dr Farooq Sattar, and Mustafa Kamal.

Both sides have reached an in-principle agreement to work together in the larger national interest.

They discussed in detail the ongoing political situation in the country and exchanged suggestions on how to best solve them.

Both sides shared details of the independents and other allies they had contacted and took each other into confidence.

Bagging independents

The PML-N has also attracted independent National Assembly and Punjab candidates to consolidate its position in the two assemblies.

So far, the PML-N has managed to attract four independents in the national assembly and five in the provincial assembly apart from the alliance with other parties.

Thus far, it has attracted independent candidates from NA-253 Mian Khan Bugti, NA-48 Raja Khurram Nawaz, NA-54 Barrister Aqeel Malik and NA-189 Sardar Shamsheer Mazari.

Some of these candidates were previously aligned with the PML-N but were not given a ticket by the party for various reasons.

Raja Khurram Nawaz was a joint candidate of the PML-N and the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) from Islamabad. He was previously aligned with the PTI during the 2018 elections.

In the Punjab assembly, it has attracted PP-240 winner Muhammad Sohail, PP-48's Khurram Khan Virk, PP-49's Rana Fiaz, PP-94's Taimoor Lali and PP-96's Zulfiqar Ali Shah.

Consequently, PML-N's total in the national assembly rises to 77, while in the Punjab Assembly, it rises to 142.

PML-N Presses Its Advantage

Pakistan's political landscape shifts as PML-N secures a strategic alliance with MQM-P, augmenting its position as the largest party. The focus on attracting

thefridaytimes.com

I mean look at this. Whilst PTI is moving around without strategy, you have some filing cases with the election tribunal whereas others are filing cases to LHC and others are protesting, the opposition has made immediate moves, securing the fourth largest party and independents. In terms of Crusader history, thats Nicea, arqa and Maara and if antioch falls aka PPP, which it will because they are working the kinks out, nothing will stop their advance to Jerusalem aka the parliament. I get that the establishment is also moving behind the scenes but atleast make their lives difficult by impeding their plans especially when PPP is quite open to PTI because they want economic reforms and less privatization and N is all for privatization

 

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First PTI-backed independent candidate joins PML-N in Lahore


LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidate expressed full confidence and announced to join the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), ARY News reported on Sunday.

Waseem Qadir, the newly elected Member of the National Assembly constituency (NA-121 Lahore-V), held a meeting with the senior vice president of PML-N Maryam Nawaz in Lahore, expressing full trust and confidence in the leadership of PML-N’s supremo, Nawaz Sharif.

In a meeting with Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the senior vice president of PML-N, Wasim Qadir discussed his decision to align with the party and the shared vision for the constituency.

First PTI-backed independent candidate joins PML-N in Lahore

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidate expressed full confidence and announced to join the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz

arynews.tv

Shocking but not surprising. As i said, whilst PTI is running around, the opposition have already made their moves and while its just one seat, its a devastating blow to the mindset because this is a psychological attack. PTI, before this defection, was confident that no individual would leave them. They took oaths, oaths on the Holy Quran, written Affidavits and what not and most analysts were saying that defections would be inconceivable but here it is. He was from PMLN and was mayor of lahore and changed parties in 2018 and stuck with Imran during the mess and boom, he went back to N now. So suddenly the impregnable fortress that PTI was showing itself is given the illusion of breaking and there will be panic since they wont know who would fall next so rather than expanding forward, PTI would be working inwards, trying to create discipline before more defections happen because after this one, the second one could fall easily. PTI needs to get their act together. They need to centralize immediately, stop with the ancillary stuff that can be done later, hold ranks and immediately get some independents and try to contact other political parties to isolate PMLN which is looking harder and harder.

Protests and cases are good and all and meetings with international media are fine as well but they are not a priority when you are being attacked in such a manner. A response has to show from PTI by taking in some independents. The Establishment is not sitting around eating popcorn. They are moving as well.

Another thing that we need to consider and this is very important. Many of these candidates are new individuals meaning that they have this opportunity to make themselves an electable. An electable is an individual who has a set base of vote. The higher the base, the more desirable an electable you are. Now Pakistan's political structure is that Each parliamentarian is given funds from the budget to spend on development works in their constituencies and in addition to these funds, posts are allotted such as police posts, district admin posts and government posts to parliamentarians so that they can place political appointments. Now the party that is in the ruling power, either in province or national, hold all the funds and these postings and they make sure to give these funds and posting to their political party or allied parties, considering how strong the allied party is. They make sure that opposition individuals dont get any funds and PMLN repeatedly stated that PTI was not providing funds during 2018-2021 so PTI is not getting a cent from N.
Let me tell you the importance of this from my own constituency. So from my constituency there was a N candidate called Javed Latif and he got elected in 2008 and by 2011ish he did some work, better than the old stalwart Saeed Virk, who did no work when he was elected from 2002 and he did no work and, he was famous for doing no work. People asked him to do favour and he would not, he did no development and he lost in 2008 to latif. So on the basis of that work, in 2013, he ran and won, defeating virk and PTI candidate. Like he rolled them. So he does alot of work and in 2018, when all the stars and establishment is with PTI, he secures another win but PMLN is no longer in power anywhere and they are being hunted down and he became the media face of the party but PTI was in government everywhere so he got no fund nor postings so in the five years, he struggled and in 2024, he lost. The image was that he is useless and Khurram virk won but now if PTI is nowhere to be seen, virk will struggle and N will recapture the area because all the money will be with N and they can give siphon funds to javed latif or DCO and make it that it is their work.
So the issue is that the parliamentarian is answerable to his electorate as they visit him for jobs, or favours and if they do works, then developmental work as well such roads and pipelines. They make corruption money from those works but that is a talk for another time. So basically when that parliamentarian is approached, he has to solve those problems otherwise he is going to lose votes which placed these new candidates in a jiffy because they need funds and postings to create their power in these constituencies and if PTI is in opposition then that will not happen so this places them under more pressure and when establishment calls or N calls with promises, just like it was in 2018 for PTI, they can defect. This is why PTI needs to move to secure the ranks because with this fall, the line could break especially for the new guys. This is a psychological attack and they need to answer back.

Khurram owes his entire political career to PTI, like he is a nobody who is winning on PTI wave but he might be thinking, this wave wont last forever and if PTI is in the woods then my career can end just like that. I need to build my strength as an electable and these five years are all i got. If i dont, then its over. So when he is like this, he starts getting calls from the army and from PMLN that if you join us, you will get funds and support and you can be an electable. Thats a proposition that can break even the strongest and then they look at their own leadership and they look lost. They are filing cases, holding protest and talking to international media but none of it is the assurance that they will form government and will be in position to give funds whereas the other side is looking busy and conquering the playing field. On top of it all, your value becomes less if they become too strong and you may not get as many goodies as you would have if you broke before. They dont care if EU newspaper published an article on rigging or if some unknown representative whose name they could barely pronounce because their english sucks stated that the rigging is bad. None of that equals government or fund. This is why PTI needs to talk to them and bring them to rank. Bring them into confidence that they have a concrete plan and it will bring them government.

 

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First PTI-backed independent candidate joins PML-N in Lahore


LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidate expressed full confidence and announced to join the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), ARY News reported on Sunday.

Waseem Qadir, the newly elected Member of the National Assembly constituency (NA-121 Lahore-V), held a meeting with the senior vice president of PML-N Maryam Nawaz in Lahore, expressing full trust and confidence in the leadership of PML-N’s supremo, Nawaz Sharif.

In a meeting with Maryam Nawaz Sharif, the senior vice president of PML-N, Wasim Qadir discussed his decision to align with the party and the shared vision for the constituency.

First PTI-backed independent candidate joins PML-N in Lahore

LAHORE: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) backed independent candidate expressed full confidence and announced to join the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz

arynews.tv

Shocking but not surprising. As i said, whilst PTI is running around, the opposition have already made their moves and while its just one seat, its a devastating blow to the mindset because this is a psychological attack. PTI, before this defection, was confident that no individual would leave them. They took oaths, oaths on the Holy Quran, written Affidavits and what not and most analysts were saying that defections would be inconceivable but here it is. He was from PMLN and was mayor of lahore and changed parties in 2018 and stuck with Imran during the mess and boom, he went back to N now. So suddenly the impregnable fortress that PTI was showing itself is given the illusion of breaking and there will be panic since they wont know who would fall next so rather than expanding forward, PTI would be working inwards, trying to create discipline before more defections happen because after this one, the second one could fall easily. PTI needs to get their act together. They need to centralize immediately, stop with the ancillary stuff that can be done later, hold ranks and immediately get some independents and try to contact other political parties to isolate PMLN which is looking harder and harder.

Protests and cases are good and all and meetings with international media are fine as well but they are not a priority when you are being attacked in such a manner. A response has to show from PTI by taking in some independents. The Establishment is not sitting around eating popcorn. They are moving as well.

Another thing that we need to consider and this is very important. Many of these candidates are new individuals meaning that they have this opportunity to make themselves an electable. An electable is an individual who has a set base of vote. The higher the base, the more desirable an electable you are. Now Pakistan's political structure is that Each parliamentarian is given funds from the budget to spend on development works in their constituencies and in addition to these funds, posts are allotted such as police posts, district admin posts and government posts to parliamentarians so that they can place political appointments. Now the party that is in the ruling power, either in province or national, hold all the funds and these postings and they make sure to give these funds and posting to their political party or allied parties, considering how strong the allied party is. They make sure that opposition individuals dont get any funds and PMLN repeatedly stated that PTI was not providing funds during 2018-2021 so PTI is not getting a cent from N.
Let me tell you the importance of this from my own constituency. So from my constituency there was a N candidate called Javed Latif and he got elected in 2008 and by 2011ish he did some work, better than the old stalwart Saeed Virk, who did no work when he was elected from 2002 and he did no work and, he was famous for doing no work. People asked him to do favour and he would not, he did no development and he lost in 2008 to latif. So on the basis of that work, in 2013, he ran and won, defeating virk and PTI candidate. Like he rolled them. So he does alot of work and in 2018, when all the stars and establishment is with PTI, he secures another win but PMLN is no longer in power anywhere and they are being hunted down and he became the media face of the party but PTI was in government everywhere so he got no fund nor postings so in the five years, he struggled and in 2024, he lost. The image was that he is useless and Khurram virk won but now if PTI is nowhere to be seen, virk will struggle and N will recapture the area because all the money will be with N and they can give siphon funds to javed latif or DCO and make it that it is their work.
So the issue is that the parliamentarian is answerable to his electorate as they visit him for jobs, or favours and if they do works, then developmental work as well such roads and pipelines. They make corruption money from those works but that is a talk for another time. So basically when that parliamentarian is approached, he has to solve those problems otherwise he is going to lose votes which placed these new candidates in a jiffy because they need funds and postings to create their power in these constituencies and if PTI is in opposition then that will not happen so this places them under more pressure and when establishment calls or N calls with promises, just like it was in 2018 for PTI, they can defect. This is why PTI needs to move to secure the ranks because with this fall, the line could break especially for the new guys. This is a psychological attack and they need to answer back.

Khurram owes his entire political career to PTI, like he is a nobody who is winning on PTI wave but he might be thinking, this wave wont last forever and if PTI is in the woods then my career can end just like that. I need to build my strength as an electable and these five years are all i got. If i dont, then its over. So when he is like this, he starts getting calls from the army and from PMLN that if you join us, you will get funds and support and you can be an electable. Thats a proposition that can break even the strongest and then they look at their own leadership and they look lost. They are filing cases, holding protest and talking to international media but none of it is the assurance that they will form government and will be in position to give funds whereas the other side is looking busy and conquering the playing field. On top of it all, your value becomes less if they become too strong and you may not get as many goodies as you would have if you broke before. They dont care if EU newspaper published an article on rigging or if some unknown representative whose name they could barely pronounce because their english sucks stated that the rigging is bad. None of that equals government or fund. This is why PTI needs to talk to them and bring them to rank. Bring them into confidence that they have a concrete plan and it will bring them government.

It looks like PPP is also trying to get PM role for bilalwal. So if that fails with PMLN, they get at least Foreign + Finance portfolio and anything else in cabinet rank of high note they can muster from kingmaking role in coalition.

Nearly all parties seem to be considerably weakened in some way by the election results:

- PMLN (Got nowhere near outright number of seats/majority they were going for)
- PTI (getting these results, but the "independents" method/process needed to do it and now with tenuous cohesion for the long run)
- Establishment (since PTI did lot better than expected even with what they threw at them)
- Judicial branch, severely affected in the long run by what they were compelled to do over last few months and 2022-2023 to begin with

I guess only PPP and some smaller parties are genuinely happy with strengthened hand.

Seems kind of silly though that PPP is openly declaring Bilalwal as PM is part of their negotiation with PMLN now. This will just leave bad blood between them afterwards, whatever arrangements are figured out in coalition. Could have just said "negotiations underway" and kept things grey with long run in mind.

 

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It looks like PPP is also trying to get PM role for bilalwal. So if that fails with PMLN, they get at least Foreign + Finance portfolio and anything else in cabinet rank of high note they can muster from kingmaking role in coalition.

Nearly all parties seem to be considerably weakened in some way by the election results:

- PMLN (Got nowhere near outright number of seats/majority they were going for)
- PTI (getting these results, but the "independents" method/process needed to do it and now with tenuous cohesion for the long run)
- Establishment (since PTI did lot better than expected even with what they threw at them)
- Judicial branch, severely affected in the long run by what they were compelled to do over last few months and 2022-2023 to begin with

I guess only PPP and some smaller parties are genuinely happy with strengthened hand.

Seems kind of silly though that PPP is openly declaring Bilalwal as PM is part of their negotiation with PMLN now. This will just leave bad blood between them afterwards, whatever arrangements are figured out in coalition. Could have just said "negotiations underway" and kept things grey with long run in mind.

The issue with finance ministry is that it is the most important ministry in the hands of a political party and that ministry needs to be on the same page with the Prime Minister and the ruling party. In terms of importance Finance Ministry is second only to the premiership itself and it is given to the most capable and loyal individual in the party. If your most capable individual is Asad Umer or Dar then that only shows how incompetent your party really is. In terms of tier first ministries you have your
Finance Ministry, your ministry of interior which is gold level ministry and Foreign Affairs. These ministries are always ones that the government tries to make sure, their most loyal and skilled individual is placed into. Second tier ministries include your information minister, Law minister, Parliamentary minister, communications minister. The rest of the ministries are your third tier ministers which could be as expansive as they can make them. Separate from these is the Defence Ministry. The Defence minister has no power but his role is important because parties use that ministry as the bridge between the party and the army and often the most army influenced candidate is placed in such ministry. Imran gave that ministry to Pervez Khattak and whilst he was army influenced and acted as a bridge between the two even in the last days of imran, he was extremely dissatisfied with the ministry because its the wilderness. Its useless. You have no power, you cant influence anything, you cant do anything, nobody listens to you and you are just this consulate without the consulate work. In contrast the interior ministry has control of the paramilitary units so you can order rangers or gilgit scouts or coastal guards to pick up people, let your smuggling expand and do alot of other stuff. There is vast power in interior and nothing in defence. Interior has all the prosecuting departments as well.

PMLN will never want to part with finance but PPP would desire finance because they have promised alot of financial socialist reforms in their mandate. It will never work if we have a PPP finance minister and a PMLN PM. You can give foreign but interior and Finance are never on the table and if they are, it just shows how divided and powerless the government will be. I think they will offer foreign and presidency in addition to some low tier ministries in national along with government in baluchistan and some ministries in Punjab despite N looking to make sole government. They may offer parliamentary bureaucracy aka assistants and special assistants to ministers and speakership but lets see. Everything is hush hush.

Yeah the election results are heavily polarized giving no party any power and after 18th amendment, provincial power is vast. If you get a province like Sindh due to karachi commercial or a vast province like Punjab, then you are in a very strong political position even if you dont get to be in the center. Center is heavily chained now and provinces have alot of autonomy. There is a reason why PTI kept whining and whining about 18th amendment and imran would eulogize hitler. The point was centralized power.

I agree with your analysis, which is better than alot of my countrymen who are slitting wrists and claiming the american, eu cavalry is just around the corner. PMLN felt a massive shock. If they cant win even a simple majority in these conditions, that were provided for them, then they really need to get their act together. Its a wakeup call that the Shehbaz parliament lost alot of capital and the vote that N has received which is significant, is due to the fact that those voters want to see Nawaz in power as they feel that he is the only solution. PMLN needs to resolve the issues. They have no political capital left. Nawaz needs to get money from somewhere, roll over loans and control inflation because if this continues then that voter will no longer exist. Also the province of Punjab has suffered greatly and is extremely divided. The fortress of PMLN is broken so he needs to give Punjab to Shehbaz who is experienced and can command respect. This is no time to experiment with a new and inexperienced face like maryam who will command nothing from the bureaucracy, police or the judiciary. PMLN has to get everything right. You are right as they have been considerably weakened. Once upon a time, they were expanding into other provinces with confidence but have been beaten so badly now that they are barely able to hold central punjab. The establishment is a power unrivaled.

As for Judiciary, they have lost big time in this civil war because not all civil conflicts are military in nature. Institutions clashing with politics is also a form of chaos that can be dubbed as civil war and there is defeat and then there is being bombed like hell and then there is mongols scorching your city. Judiciary has faced mongol level of destruction. People already had minimal trust due to the sluggish nature of the courts and the ineptitude of lawyers and judges. People dont turst them at all and this was compounded when the judiciary started to partake in judicial activism. Remember in the chat we were talking about the babri judgment and i stated that a judge has no platform to explain his position but a lawyer can come out and say a bunch of things to explain his position. The politician has years to explain his and both N and PTI, whenever they got judgments against them, rallied their supporters against the courts and these are the largest parties out there so when their supporters turned, the courts found themselves being blamed from all sides and add to this effect the army asking them to intervene and then the political parties bringing to them case after case after case, repeatedly bringing the spotlight to the courts, that they simply couldnt sustain the hate. They have come out as massive losers in the story. The judiciary must step back now and declare that they will not interfere anymore and they will not entertain interference through petitions because let me tell you, PTI is filled with lawyers and every single move by the government from policy declaration to bills will be challenged in courts which will only besmirch the institution. Take for example the asinine judgment by CJ bandiyal regarding election funds. Normally the government gave face to the courts and would heed their words but they rebelled and said NO. The court was powerless. They found a hostile parliament and an executive. Judiciary needs to keep their heads down and focus on internal reforms and just let all politicians do their own thing. Judicial interference or activism is the last thing judiciary needs.

Agreed with PTI as well. They have won from what was perceived to be a massive defeat but they are struggling with control and centralization and this lack of connected thought is why they were unable to take the initiative. They should have approached the independents first and let me tell, whilst the establishment is making moves, the idea is to make their job harder and strengthen their own position. They barely controlled their own ranks until they heard one of their own has left and noise is that PMLN is in constant communication with 20ish more. Add to this the fact, that bilawal actually wanted to talk with PTI. Bilawal was a massive Imran fanboy and he was running after him during 2011ish and this was after his jalsa at Minar e Pakistan. Imran, rather than use this opportunity to make headway abused him, his father and his family. His supporters abused him to such an extent that it became ridiculous and the bridge was burned to the ground. Despite that he wanted to hold talks with PTI, most likely to work together to grab power and deal a blow to N but PTI is not known for intelligence. The party has got a province and they have strong opposition position. They need to rally their party, create control within and establish further connectivity but this is not the sole issue. Ever since PTI was removed from power, they have been doing the exact same thing that their predecessors did from the time of mujeeb. It was what bhutto did and nawaz did which was show the military how much street power you have because mujeeb showed that it works. If you have enough power, you have political clout and you can make even the most powerful dictator sweat. Bhutto, Nawaz, Benazir, Imran, Altaf and regional parties like PTM, all of them had the same idea that if you could show the military that level of political support from the people, you dont declare independence, but show power then you can bring them to the table and then you can be flexible and negotiate a greater position. Nawaz did with his khalai makhlooq and mujhe kyo nikala and be brought numbers but he wasnt able to pressure them at all and his party campaigned like crazy in 2018 and they wanted to show the army that the people are with them and voting like it was with mujeeb in East Pakistan but the result was different and his narrative fell as the party was left in the wilderness with PTI capturing province after province save for Sindh where PPP has been gathering strength. Imran did the same thing when he was removed. He tried to show awami strength to get the army to deal with him and he even tried to send messages that he is willing to talk and spread rumors that talks are happening but that is not how the army operates and this is why he was so focused with the election because if he could show that he has support just like his predecessors did then maybe he could force the army on the table. He tried to bring numbers but that didnt work then like nawaz, all he had left was the election but the army continued the crackdown just like they did with his predecessors because the idea is to sweep against all odds but the result is heavily divided and N is and can form government, PPP is forming government and all PTI can do is protest in the wilderness. They sent a message but the message that Imran wanted to send, that i am Mujeeb, i am absolute, there is no other political party, that mujeeb had sent in East Pakistan because army tried to support multiple parties in East Pakistan and had genuine belief that the result would be divided thus the entire narrative of Mujeeb being absolute would fall apart., it just didnt get there. This is why their social media and party is saying that we have this mandate and we have that massive power all across so deal with us. Reports also showing that Imran is again looking for talks hoping that show would be enough but its never enough. Remember when all PTI supporters and social media was talking before and after 9th may that army is willing to talk and they are begging and imran will be freed soon and international world is coming but nothing materialized. Its just not how the army negotiates. PTI has sent a message but not the one they wanted to send and that is where they are in a weaker position because the message they wanted to send was that they are the absolute voice of the people to pressurize the army but the army is not feeling pressure when there are other political parties winning and winning enough to form government and they are so arrogant that they will believe this to be the truth that people have rejected PTI. Establishment is that delusional. The message that PTI has sent is that they are an established party on par with PMLN and PPP and whether there is Imran or not, they have carved for themselves a power stronghold in KPK and power positions in Punjab. The message is more to other political parties and to the establishment that PTI will not vanish but will remain and you can throw them in the wilderness but they are there and eventually a deal will happen with them just like it happened with PMLN. Not now but it will. PTI has a great chance to establish itself as a ture democratic party if they get their act together.

In continuation, i disagree on the assertion that Establishment has lost. In the chat i gave the example of 1971 war that who cares if you lost Chhamb when you have East Pakistan. Similar that yes they cant wipe out PTI but they also dont ever want PMLN to gain that power it had in 2013 because PPP is still sindh-centric and Punjab hates PPP after 2008 mismanagement so their graph outside of Sindh is weak thus if the space is not occupied by PTI then it will be occupied by PMLN and that is also a nightmare for them. So in exchange for giving KPK and accepting PTI as a political reality, they get to weaken PMLN and keep the only province that can make 2/3rd majority a reality, divided which means that the central government will never be an absolute threat and the opposition will always be strong especially considering the fact as to how recalcitrant PTI is. So from their point of view, they have lost something small but gained something massive. It is important to note that the establishment is not some evil midnight cult. They are not united. Yes the army is the biggest element but the Establishment is a cooperation of different undemocratic institution who agree on only two things. Politicians are honorless sellouts who are bad and people are naively foolish. Thats it. That is all they agree on. The interference stems from elements within the establishment telling individuals to interfere. Terms like "God has given you this power, you must use it to help the people." are common terms which is why i believe that the issue isnt remove Chief Justice or Army chief because they are just mere elements of the establishment. Even if you remove the army through a violent coup and replace it with another professional army under the title of Pakistan's People's Army then that new army will become the establishment because the issue is that widespread thinking that politicians are bad and people are naive. Establishment hasnt lost much in terms of power and i know some will say look at IPP and i will say its not the first time the army has faced such setbacks but it never impacted their power. Such groups are made, not to create electable groups but to weaken votes and to divide the leadership for example in the 90s when the crackdown on MQM began they formed MQM-Haqqiqi, a division group and that group never won a single seat and same with PSP made by MQM member mustafa kamal in 2012ish when the second crackdown on altaf was starting. Its the same thing.

Not all small parties. Infact regional parties and religious parties suffered greatly. Only two parties can truly claim, absent any contrary opinion that they have won and that is PPP who have, at this point made Sindh their absolute stronghold and their NA power bloc is now cemented. It would be easier for a Pakistani Party to win in Uttarpardesh than in Sindh and secondly MQM has reestablished its political capital and won 90% of their old seats, i think. They have risen big and this is their grand opportunity for a comeback. They should make full use of it.

Lastly as for PPP open demands. These are negotiating tactics. It wont create bad blood and PPP couldnt care less especially with the condition both PTI and PMLN are finding themselves in. PPP knows that the way things in Pakistan politics are headed, they will always have to be approached for party making. We have officially entered the three party era in pakistan

 

[Saiyan0321]

Ji chairman Siraj Ul Haq has announced retirement from the position of leading JI as he stated that in his leadership, JI never grew and now they have announced immediate meeting for the election of the new Emir of JI

 

[Saiyan0321]

Parties gear up for reserved seats allocation​

With most of the results for the February 8 general elections finally announced, the process of government formation and allocation of specific seats in the provincial assemblies has commenced.

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has also outlined the procedure for distributing reserved seats among successful political parties, as well as for government formation.

Successful political parties in the provincial assemblies will obtain reserved seats for women and minorities according to the outlined procedure.

The total number of seats in the Punjab Assembly is 371, consisting of 297 general seats, 66 seats reserved for women, and 8 seats reserved for minorities. To form a government in Punjab, 186 seats are required.

In the Punjab Assembly, a party will be allocated one seat for women at a rate of 4.5%, equating to one reserved seat for every 9 general seats. One seat will be allotted to a minority member of a party at a rate of 37.12%.

According to the current party positions in Punjab, out of the 66 seats reserved for women, 30 seats are allocated to the PML-N, two each to the PPP and the PML-Q, while the remaining 32 seats will be allocated to the party that independent candidates join.

The total number of seats in the Sindh Assembly is 168, with 130 general seats. A political party that secures 85 seats will be in a position to form its government.



In the Sindh Assembly, out of the 130 general seats, 29 seats will be reserved for women and 9 seats for minorities. According to the prescribed ratio for the allocation of reserved seats, one seat will be allocated for women at a rate of 4.48%, and one minority seat at a rate of 14.44%.

Read Reserved seat allocations for friends and family only

Based on this specified proportion for the distribution of reserved seats, the PPP is positioned to obtain 19 out of the 29 seats reserved for women in the Sindh Assembly, while six seats are earmarked for the MQM and three seats are contingent upon independent candidates.

In the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly, out of the total 145 seats, 115 are general seats, and a political party securing 73 seats can form its government.

In the K-P Assembly, one reserved seat will be allocated for women based on a ratio of 4.42%, and one minority seat will be allocated for every 29 general seats.

In the K-P Assembly, out of the 26 reserved seats, 21 seats are contingent upon the inclusion of independent candidates in political parties. The JUI-F receives two seats, while the PML-N and the PPP each receive one seat. The Jamaat-e-Islami and the PTI-Parliamentarians jointly hold one seat.

The total number of seats in the Balochistan Assembly is 65, and any political party can easily form the government by securing 33 seats. Based on the 51 general seats in the Balochistan Assembly, 11 seats will be allocated for women and three seats for minority members.

In the Balochistan Assembly, any political party will be allocated one seat for women at a rate of 4.63%, and one minority seat for every 17 general seats.

According to the current party positions, the JUI-F will receive three seats, the PPP and PML-N will receive two seats each for women, and the remaining three seats will be distributed among other parties and one seat for an independent candidate joining any political party.

Parties gear up for reserved seats allocation | The Express Tribune

ECP has also outlined the procedure for distributing special seats

tribune.com.pk

 

[Saiyan0321]

JI Chief Hafiz Rehman protested rigging and has announced that he will forfeit his Ps-129 seat.

Also IPP patron in chief jehangir tareen has also announced leaving politics. Looks like his job is done so he will now focus on spending money on political parties as part of establishment.

 

[Saiyan0321]

PTI demands CEC’s resignation over ‘poll fraud’​

Alleges ECP members, CEC colluded to strip PTI-backed candidates of mandate bestowed by people

---

ISLAMABAD:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has demanded the immediate resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikandar Sultan Raja, accusing him of dereliction of his constitutional and legal duties and playing the role of a facilitator in what it termed as 'poll fraud.'
The PTI further insisted that not only should CEC Raja step down, but the members of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) should also tender their resignations.
It alleged that they colluded to strip PTI-backed candidates of the mandate bestowed upon them by the people in the February 8 general elections, marred by widespread reports of vote rigging.
In a statement, PTI spokesperson Raoof Hasan demanded CEC and ECP members’ resignation amid widespread reports of vote rigging during the recently concluded polls.
According to the PTI, the party was cruising with a lead of 170 National Assembly seats before the alleged rigging swung the pendulum in favour of the PML-N.
Party chairman Barrister Gohar Khan stated that the party intended to use legal avenues to highlight this rigging and get back its stolen mandate.
This is not the first time PTI has demanded resignation from CEC as PTI founding chairman Imran Khan has demanded Raja’s resignation on several occasions in the past as well on the allegation that he had joined hands with the PML-N. Imran had even shown mistrust in CEC after his party’s resounding victory on 15 seats in the by-elections held in 20 constituencies of Punjab in 2022.
On Sunday, the PTI spokesperson demanded the immediate resignation of CEC and members of the election watchdog, “who worked as main facilitators in the daylight robbery on public mandate.”
Hasan said that the CEC and ECP members did not have any right and moral justification to say any more on their position since “they completely failed in performing their constitutional and legal duties”.

He added that they even did not have any regard or respect for the Constitution and law.

He further stated that the CEC and ECP members “opened the door to violating the constitution, flouting the law, tarnishing democracy, and desecrating the public mandate.”

In addition, the spokesperson said that imposing PDM-2 on the nation again through daylight robbery on public mandate is unacceptable and intolerable.

While demanding the immediate resignation of CEC, and ECP members, he said that neither people nor PTI would accept any malicious plot come what may. Hasan strongly rejected the ongoing malicious attempts and “shameful drama to tamper with the results to convert PTI’s overwhelming majority into the minority to impose the people-rejected PDM-2 on the nation once again.”

In a strongly worded statement, Hasan vehemently denounced the reprehensible plot to deprive people of their true and genuine representatives, saying efforts were afoot to allegedly steal the public mandate and re-imposed “the gang of criminals on the nation.”

He made it clear that the people of the country would not accept any such nefarious plan and they would safeguard and protect their mandate come what may.

He stated that PTI, being the largest and most popular party in the country, with representation in all four provinces and a decisive public mandate, had the basic constitutional, democratic, moral and political right to form a government.

He recalled that the “rejected and incompetent PDM group” was responsible for Pakistan’s prevailing economic and administrative disaster. He went on to say that inflation-weary people of the country rejected PTI opponents by taking revenge through their power of vote three days ago by inflicting crushing drubbing on them.

The statement said that the PDM’s 16-month-long inept government compounded the public miseries manifolds, saying they skyrocketed the inflation and ruined the fast-thriving economy.

PTI demands CEC’s resignation over ‘poll fraud’ | The Express Tribune

Alleges ECP members, CEC colluded to strip PTI-backed candidates of mandate bestowed by people

tribune.com.pk

 

[Saiyan0321]

PML-N’s shock losses in Punjab prompt calls for ‘soul-searching’​

• Marriyum says party not oblivious to defeats in strongholds
• Insiders blame Sharifs’ outdated 90s playbook, absence of youth engagement

Even as the party’s top-tier leadership continues hectic efforts to form a government in the Centre, Punjab and Balochistan, there is a sense of shock among PML-N ranks over losses in Punjab — especially areas the party considered its strongholds.

Defeats for key leaders such as Rana Sanaullah in Faisalabad, Khwaja Saad Rafique in Lahore and Mian Javed Latif in Sheikhupura, among others, have prompted calls for introspection before moving forward, both from the defeated candidates and others within party echelons who have woken up to the reality that their popularity has taken a hit.

“The Sharifs and the other senior leaders were shaken by the results in Punjab, but they are trying to put on a brave face as they focus on forming a coalition in Islamabad,” one party leader told Dawn on Sunday.
PML-N Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb has already indicated that the party was open to ‘soul searching’. Speaking to a private TV channel on Saturday, she said the party is thinking about why it has lost from its traditional strongholds, adding that the party was not “insensitive or oblivious” to this reality.

“Although we are the largest party in Punjab, the PML-N will figure out the causes of its defeat in different areas of Punjab.”

In conversations with Dawn, a couple of PML-N leaders said on Sunday that it was the leadership’s “miscalculation”, i.e. their failure to properly assess public sentiment, especially that of the youth, which cost the party dearly.

“The popularity of the PML-N started dipping soon after sending the Imran Khan government home through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. The first mistake was to cobble together a coalition government, which proved disastrous in terms of making the lives of the masses miserable through inflation. Now, almost everyone is realising that the party made a mistake by not going for elections immediately after toppling Mr Khan’s government,” a PML-N leader from Punjab said.






Another aspect of the party’s politics that apparently did not sit well with voters was the appearance of being pro-establishment.

“You see… we did not have any narrative at the time of going into election. We tried our best to replace the ‘development narrative’ with that of ‘vote ko izzat do’ (give respect to the vote), but it didn’t work. That is a cost a party has to bear when it does politics under the umbrella of the powers that be,” he said.

Thirdly, he argued, the party had no answer to the PTI’s perpetual and strong campaign against the Sharifs on social media, painting them as corrupt.

Another leader considered close to the Maryam Nawaz camp told Dawn the results in Punjab were more than a wake-up call for the Sharifs, who needed to revisit their 1990s-style politics, which had become completely outdated in 2024.

Although there had been talk of complacency within the party ranks, but those who lost their constituencies did not consider this a factor, as they used all available resources in their election campaign.

“The PML-N’s vindictive politics also benefited PTI-backed candidates. Had the leadership played smart on this front and adopted a reconciliatory approach towards the Khan’s party, the PTI might not have gotten such a large sympathy vote.”

PML-N stalwart Khurrum Dastgir, who was among those who lost his seat in the party’s traditional stronghold of Gujranwala, also referred to the party’s failure to effectively engage the youth.

Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, president of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat), was of the view that the PML-N had the lowest number of young candidates in the Feb 8 polls — just 4 per cent — while the PPP had 9 per cent.

“The youth was not the focus of the PML-N’s politics; the Sharifs are known for family-based politics, even former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has termed the party a ‘family-based organisation’,” he said.






Talking to Dawn, Mr Mehboob also pointed to other factors that could be behind the poor performance of the PML-N in Punjab.

“The party’s campaign was lacklustre. It also lagged far behind in virtual campaigning — in terms use of artificial intelligence (AI) and social media platforms,” he said and added the PML-N leadership also failed to effectively craft a narrative during their election campaign.

The impression of being the ‘B-Team of the establishment’, he said also dwindled its mass appeal.

Mr Mehboob, however, says the PML-N’s popularity may suffer more if it decides to form a coalition government in the Centre with such a shaky mandate, because the challenges before them are monumental.

“But it seems the PML-N thinks enough damage has already been done by siding with the establishment — [they are probably thinking] let’s have the government and defer this popularity thing for some other time,” he concluded.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2024

PML-N’s shock losses in Punjab prompt calls for ‘soul-searching’

Marriyum says party not oblivious to defeats in strongholds; insiders blame Sharifs’ outdated 90s playbook, absence of youth engagement.

www.dawn.com

 

[Nilgiri]

The issue with finance ministry is that it is the most important ministry in the hands of a political party and that ministry needs to be on the same page with the Prime Minister and the ruling party. In terms of importance Finance Ministry is second only to the premiership itself and it is given to the most capable and loyal individual in the party. If your most capable individual is Asad Umer or Dar then that only shows how incompetent your party really is. In terms of tier first ministries you have your
Finance Ministry, your ministry of interior which is gold level ministry and Foreign Affairs. These ministries are always ones that the government tries to make sure, their most loyal and skilled individual is placed into. Second tier ministries include your information minister, Law minister, Parliamentary minister, communications minister. The rest of the ministries are your third tier ministers which could be as expansive as they can make them. Separate from these is the Defence Ministry. The Defence minister has no power but his role is important because parties use that ministry as the bridge between the party and the army and often the most army influenced candidate is placed in such ministry. Imran gave that ministry to Pervez Khattak and whilst he was army influenced and acted as a bridge between the two even in the last days of imran, he was extremely dissatisfied with the ministry because its the wilderness. Its useless. You have no power, you cant influence anything, you cant do anything, nobody listens to you and you are just this consulate without the consulate work. In contrast the interior ministry has control of the paramilitary units so you can order rangers or gilgit scouts or coastal guards to pick up people, let your smuggling expand and do alot of other stuff. There is vast power in interior and nothing in defence. Interior has all the prosecuting departments as well.

PMLN will never want to part with finance but PPP would desire finance because they have promised alot of financial socialist reforms in their mandate. It will never work if we have a PPP finance minister and a PMLN PM. You can give foreign but interior and Finance are never on the table and if they are, it just shows how divided and powerless the government will be. I think they will offer foreign and presidency in addition to some low tier ministries in national along with government in baluchistan and some ministries in Punjab despite N looking to make sole government. They may offer parliamentary bureaucracy aka assistants and special assistants to ministers and speakership but lets see. Everything is hush hush.

Yeah the election results are heavily polarized giving no party any power and after 18th amendment, provincial power is vast. If you get a province like Sindh due to karachi commercial or a vast province like Punjab, then you are in a very strong political position even if you dont get to be in the center. Center is heavily chained now and provinces have alot of autonomy. There is a reason why PTI kept whining and whining about 18th amendment and imran would eulogize hitler. The point was centralized power.

I agree with your analysis, which is better than alot of my countrymen who are slitting wrists and claiming the american, eu cavalry is just around the corner. PMLN felt a massive shock. If they cant win even a simple majority in these conditions, that were provided for them, then they really need to get their act together. Its a wakeup call that the Shehbaz parliament lost alot of capital and the vote that N has received which is significant, is due to the fact that those voters want to see Nawaz in power as they feel that he is the only solution. PMLN needs to resolve the issues. They have no political capital left. Nawaz needs to get money from somewhere, roll over loans and control inflation because if this continues then that voter will no longer exist. Also the province of Punjab has suffered greatly and is extremely divided. The fortress of PMLN is broken so he needs to give Punjab to Shehbaz who is experienced and can command respect. This is no time to experiment with a new and inexperienced face like maryam who will command nothing from the bureaucracy, police or the judiciary. PMLN has to get everything right. You are right as they have been considerably weakened. Once upon a time, they were expanding into other provinces with confidence but have been beaten so badly now that they are barely able to hold central punjab. The establishment is a power unrivaled.

As for Judiciary, they have lost big time in this civil war because not all civil conflicts are military in nature. Institutions clashing with politics is also a form of chaos that can be dubbed as civil war and there is defeat and then there is being bombed like hell and then there is mongols scorching your city. Judiciary has faced mongol level of destruction. People already had minimal trust due to the sluggish nature of the courts and the ineptitude of lawyers and judges. People dont turst them at all and this was compounded when the judiciary started to partake in judicial activism. Remember in the chat we were talking about the babri judgment and i stated that a judge has no platform to explain his position but a lawyer can come out and say a bunch of things to explain his position. The politician has years to explain his and both N and PTI, whenever they got judgments against them, rallied their supporters against the courts and these are the largest parties out there so when their supporters turned, the courts found themselves being blamed from all sides and add to this effect the army asking them to intervene and then the political parties bringing to them case after case after case, repeatedly bringing the spotlight to the courts, that they simply couldnt sustain the hate. They have come out as massive losers in the story. The judiciary must step back now and declare that they will not interfere anymore and they will not entertain interference through petitions because let me tell you, PTI is filled with lawyers and every single move by the government from policy declaration to bills will be challenged in courts which will only besmirch the institution. Take for example the asinine judgment by CJ bandiyal regarding election funds. Normally the government gave face to the courts and would heed their words but they rebelled and said NO. The court was powerless. They found a hostile parliament and an executive. Judiciary needs to keep their heads down and focus on internal reforms and just let all politicians do their own thing. Judicial interference or activism is the last thing judiciary needs.

Agreed with PTI as well. They have won from what was perceived to be a massive defeat but they are struggling with control and centralization and this lack of connected thought is why they were unable to take the initiative. They should have approached the independents first and let me tell, whilst the establishment is making moves, the idea is to make their job harder and strengthen their own position. They barely controlled their own ranks until they heard one of their own has left and noise is that PMLN is in constant communication with 20ish more. Add to this the fact, that bilawal actually wanted to talk with PTI. Bilawal was a massive Imran fanboy and he was running after him during 2011ish and this was after his jalsa at Minar e Pakistan. Imran, rather than use this opportunity to make headway abused him, his father and his family. His supporters abused him to such an extent that it became ridiculous and the bridge was burned to the ground. Despite that he wanted to hold talks with PTI, most likely to work together to grab power and deal a blow to N but PTI is not known for intelligence. The party has got a province and they have strong opposition position. They need to rally their party, create control within and establish further connectivity but this is not the sole issue. Ever since PTI was removed from power, they have been doing the exact same thing that their predecessors did from the time of mujeeb. It was what bhutto did and nawaz did which was show the military how much street power you have because mujeeb showed that it works. If you have enough power, you have political clout and you can make even the most powerful dictator sweat. Bhutto, Nawaz, Benazir, Imran, Altaf and regional parties like PTM, all of them had the same idea that if you could show the military that level of political support from the people, you dont declare independence, but show power then you can bring them to the table and then you can be flexible and negotiate a greater position. Nawaz did with his khalai makhlooq and mujhe kyo nikala and be brought numbers but he wasnt able to pressure them at all and his party campaigned like crazy in 2018 and they wanted to show the army that the people are with them and voting like it was with mujeeb in East Pakistan but the result was different and his narrative fell as the party was left in the wilderness with PTI capturing province after province save for Sindh where PPP has been gathering strength. Imran did the same thing when he was removed. He tried to show awami strength to get the army to deal with him and he even tried to send messages that he is willing to talk and spread rumors that talks are happening but that is not how the army operates and this is why he was so focused with the election because if he could show that he has support just like his predecessors did then maybe he could force the army on the table. He tried to bring numbers but that didnt work then like nawaz, all he had left was the election but the army continued the crackdown just like they did with his predecessors because the idea is to sweep against all odds but the result is heavily divided and N is and can form government, PPP is forming government and all PTI can do is protest in the wilderness. They sent a message but the message that Imran wanted to send, that i am Mujeeb, i am absolute, there is no other political party, that mujeeb had sent in East Pakistan because army tried to support multiple parties in East Pakistan and had genuine belief that the result would be divided thus the entire narrative of Mujeeb being absolute would fall apart., it just didnt get there. This is why their social media and party is saying that we have this mandate and we have that massive power all across so deal with us. Reports also showing that Imran is again looking for talks hoping that show would be enough but its never enough. Remember when all PTI supporters and social media was talking before and after 9th may that army is willing to talk and they are begging and imran will be freed soon and international world is coming but nothing materialized. Its just not how the army negotiates. PTI has sent a message but not the one they wanted to send and that is where they are in a weaker position because the message they wanted to send was that they are the absolute voice of the people to pressurize the army but the army is not feeling pressure when there are other political parties winning and winning enough to form government and they are so arrogant that they will believe this to be the truth that people have rejected PTI. Establishment is that delusional. The message that PTI has sent is that they are an established party on par with PMLN and PPP and whether there is Imran or not, they have carved for themselves a power stronghold in KPK and power positions in Punjab. The message is more to other political parties and to the establishment that PTI will not vanish but will remain and you can throw them in the wilderness but they are there and eventually a deal will happen with them just like it happened with PMLN. Not now but it will. PTI has a great chance to establish itself as a ture democratic party if they get their act together.

In continuation, i disagree on the assertion that Establishment has lost. In the chat i gave the example of 1971 war that who cares if you lost Chhamb when you have East Pakistan. Similar that yes they cant wipe out PTI but they also dont ever want PMLN to gain that power it had in 2013 because PPP is still sindh-centric and Punjab hates PPP after 2008 mismanagement so their graph outside of Sindh is weak thus if the space is not occupied by PTI then it will be occupied by PMLN and that is also a nightmare for them. So in exchange for giving KPK and accepting PTI as a political reality, they get to weaken PMLN and keep the only province that can make 2/3rd majority a reality, divided which means that the central government will never be an absolute threat and the opposition will always be strong especially considering the fact as to how recalcitrant PTI is. So from their point of view, they have lost something small but gained something massive. It is important to note that the establishment is not some evil midnight cult. They are not united. Yes the army is the biggest element but the Establishment is a cooperation of different undemocratic institution who agree on only two things. Politicians are honorless sellouts who are bad and people are naively foolish. Thats it. That is all they agree on. The interference stems from elements within the establishment telling individuals to interfere. Terms like "God has given you this power, you must use it to help the people." are common terms which is why i believe that the issue isnt remove Chief Justice or Army chief because they are just mere elements of the establishment. Even if you remove the army through a violent coup and replace it with another professional army under the title of Pakistan's People's Army then that new army will become the establishment because the issue is that widespread thinking that politicians are bad and people are naive. Establishment hasnt lost much in terms of power and i know some will say look at IPP and i will say its not the first time the army has faced such setbacks but it never impacted their power. Such groups are made, not to create electable groups but to weaken votes and to divide the leadership for example in the 90s when the crackdown on MQM began they formed MQM-Haqqiqi, a division group and that group never won a single seat and same with PSP made by MQM member mustafa kamal in 2012ish when the second crackdown on altaf was starting. Its the same thing.

Not all small parties. Infact regional parties and religious parties suffered greatly. Only two parties can truly claim, absent any contrary opinion that they have won and that is PPP who have, at this point made Sindh their absolute stronghold and their NA power bloc is now cemented. It would be easier for a Pakistani Party to win in Uttarpardesh than in Sindh and secondly MQM has reestablished its political capital and won 90% of their old seats, i think. They have risen big and this is their grand opportunity for a comeback. They should make full use of it.

Lastly as for PPP open demands. These are negotiating tactics. It wont create bad blood and PPP couldnt care less especially with the condition both PTI and PMLN are finding themselves in. PPP knows that the way things in Pakistan politics are headed, they will always have to be approached for party making. We have officially entered the three party era in pakistan

@Joe Shearer @Jackdaws @Afif @TR_123456 good detailed read for current political snapshot of Pakistan.

 

[Saiyan0321]

So updates are that CM of KPK will be Ali amin Gandapur. He is experienced and played a key role in the "Governments" in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan and he is loyal to the party so thats understandable.

PPP is right now divided into three camps. One camp wants coalition government with PMLN with power ministry but the other camps are really arguing. One camp wants PPP to sit in the opposition. Fact is that no matter how much PMLN goes technical, it is the second largest party and PPP members feel that joining with a minority party could be harmful for their politics and PPP needs to show their voters that they are not establishment stooges especially considering the fact that the new government will have to take some tough decisions and PPP had to work day and night to separate themselves from the blowback of PDM. This group wants PPP to at most vote for PMLN to make government and sit in the opposition.
The thing to consider is that the opposition bench is also a massive bench that if left in the hands of PTI alone could complicate things. A third group wants PPP to reach out to PTI but that is not gonna happen because PTI is grabbing the mic and screaming, we dont want you.
PMLN is actively working to break some PTI-independent members and news is coming that they are in contact with some 20-25 members and PTI is trying to rally them. The more members PMLN has, the stronger their position will be.

On 29th session will be held where such votes will be cast and after that the next session will be held in a month or so, earlier if possible to remove alvi because there is a chance that if or when pti loses the premier and speaker elections, they may pressurize alvi to create a constitutional crisis by calling the assembly defunct and breaking it although chance of that happening is very small but it is being talked in the PTI circles.

 

[Saiyan0321]

LHC dismisses 18 PTI pleas against election results​

The Lahore High Court dismissed petitions challenging the election results of 18 national and provincial constituencies, deeming them inadmissible. Meanwhile, the high courts in Karachi and Peshawar have summoned the Election Commission to respond to similar challenges.

Courts nationwide are inundated with electoral disputes as numerous candidates contest provisional results in hopes of altering outcomes. Most challengers are independents backed by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Multiple petitions have been heard in high courts in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar, contesting discrepancies between Form 47, issued by returning officers (ROs), and the data on Form 45. Form 45 is the primary document containing candidate vote data per polling station, while Form 46 details ballot handling.

Form 47 provides candidate vote breakdowns based on all Form 45s, offering unofficial results. Form 48 compiles total candidate votes in a constituency, while Form 49—the Gazetted Form—presents the official outcome.

In the Lahore High Court, Justice Ali Baqir Najafi presided over the petitions. Following arguments, the court reserved its ruling, later pronouncing the reserved judgment that the petitions were inadmissible and thus dismissed.

Among those contested were the electoral victories of prominent figures such as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Maryam Nawaz, Khawaja Asif, and Aun Chaudhry of Istehkam-e-Pakistan (IPP).

In its verdicts, the court directed petitioners to seek redressal from the Election Commission under the Election Act. The Election Commission would then determine whether to compile results with or without the applicant's presence, adhering to the Election Act.

Challenges in the LHC included constituencies such as NA-117 with Aleem Khan, NA-119 with Maryam Nawaz, NA-126 with Malik Saiful Mulook Khokhar, NA-127 with Atta Tarar, NA-128 with Aun Chaudhry, NA-117 with Khawaja Asif, NA-80 with Shahid Usman, and NA-87 with Malik Shakir Bashir Awan.

Additionally, challenges extended to Punjab Assembly constituencies including PP-167 with Irfan Shafi Khokhar, PP-169 with Malik Khalid Khokhar, PP-46 with Faisal Ikram, PP-47 with Chaudhry Muhammad Mansha, and PP-53 with Rana Abdul Sattar.

In the Sindh High Court (SHC), a two-member bench, led by Chief Justice Aqeel Ahmad Abbasi, issued notices to the Election Commission and the Federation for February 13 (today) regarding all petitions contesting the results of 40 constituencies of the national and provincial assembly in Karachi.

During proceedings, Barrister Farogh Naseem, representing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), questioned the maintainability of the petitions. Barrister Salahuddin, counsel for the petitioners, emphasized their desire for returning officers (ROs) to tally Form 45 in the candidates' presence.

Chief Justice Abbasi inquired whether any applications had been submitted to the Election Commission, highlighting the Commission's authority, including the ability to order re-polling in entire constituencies. He cautioned against disrupting the electoral process at this stage.

Barrister Salahuddin urged the bench to direct the Election Commission to halt notification issuance and consider their requests before making a decision. However, Barrister Naseem opposed such instructions, preferring to allow the Election Commission to carry out its duties.

The chief justice clarified to the Election Commission's counsel that the court wasn't issuing orders but warned against any attempt to be cunning. Notices were issued to the Election Commission and the Federation for February 13.



Similarly, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued notices to the Election Commission and summoned the returning officers of the relevant constituencies for February 15 regarding petitions filed by leaders of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf alleging result tampering.

A two-member bench, comprising Justice Shakeel Ahmed and Justice Syed Arshad Ali, heard petitions from Sajid Nawaz, Taimoor Salim Jhagra, Mehmood Jan, Kamran Bangash, Arrab Jehandad, Mohammad Asim, Ali Zaman, Malik Shahab, and Syed Farin.''

Petitioners' lawyers argued that Form 45s favored their clients, showing significant leads, but final results on Form 47s were altered. They sought to halt result issuance.

Justice Shakeel Ahmed questioned the Election Commission’s lawyer about Form 48 and Form 49 issuance. The lawyer confirmed Form 49 issuance for most Peshawar constituencies. Justice Arshad Ali noted that if Form 49 was issued, the court couldn't suspend it.

Justice Ali clarified that the court couldn't instruct the Election Commission to recount votes. Shumail Butt, petitioner's counsel, clarified they weren't requesting a recount but urging result announcement per Form 45.

Lawyers of successful candidates argued against case hearings, while petitioners' lawyers requested an injunction on result declaration. Justice Ali highlighted the court's limited jurisdiction in such cases.

The court issued notices to the Election Commission and summoned ROs for February 15. During the hearing, a female officer presented a plea, leading to the court adjourning proceedings for simultaneous hearing of all petitions.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission stopped the issuance of final results of NA-52, NA-53, NA-56, NA-57, NA-60, and NA-69, NA-87, NA-106, NA-126 and NA-127, besides Punjab Assembly’s constituencies of PP-4, PP-6, PP-7, PP-12, PP-15, PP-17, PP-33, PP-43, PP-53, PP-121, PP-126, PP-128, PP-133 and PP-279.

The Election Commission also stopped the final result of two Balochistan Assembly constituencies, PB-14 and PB-44 Quetta. The Election Commission also ordered re-polling at 7 polling stations of NA-253 and PB-9 in Balochistan.

The Election Commission has formed two benches to hear the election related matters. It took up a complaint against IPP’s Firdous Ashiq Awan regarding slapping an official. The lawyers for Awan sought the copy of the complaint. The bench accepted the plea and adjourned the matter.

On PTI-supported candidate Ayaz Amir's request pertaining to the results of NA-58 and NA-59 Chakwal the ECP bench issued notices to the RO concerned. The commission reserved its decision on a petition related to the snatching of the polling material in PS-19 Ghotki.

The case of 6 polling stations in NA-43 Tank, where no vote was cast, was also heard. The RO concerned said that the polling could not be held because of the deteriorating law and order situation.

He added that some polling staff could not reach the polling stations, while a presiding officer was injured in firing.

Separately, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court under Article 184(3) of the Constitution, requesting the apex court to declare the February 8 general elections null and void and order fresh elections under Judicial Supervision.

The petitioner Ali Khan said in his petition,” seeking justice and redressal for the grave injustices and irregularities witnessed during the general elections held on the 8th of February 2024”. He requested the court to order fresh elections under the supervision of the Judiciary.

LHC dismisses 18 PTI pleas against election results | The Express Tribune

Courts issue notices to election commission on several other petitions

tribune.com.pk

 

[Joe Shearer]

So updates are that CM of KPK will be Ali amin Gandapur. He is experienced and played a key role in the "Governments" in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan and he is loyal to the party so thats understandable.

PPP is right now divided into three camps. One camp wants coalition government with PMLN with power ministry but the other camps are really arguing. One camp wants PPP to sit in the opposition. Fact is that no matter how much PMLN goes technical, it is the second largest party and PPP members feel that joining with a minority party could be harmful for their politics and PPP needs to show their voters that they are not establishment stooges especially considering the fact that the new government will have to take some tough decisions and PPP had to work day and night to separate themselves from the blowback of PDM. This group wants PPP to at most vote for PMLN to make government and sit in the opposition.
The thing to consider is that the opposition bench is also a massive bench that if left in the hands of PTI alone could complicate things. A third group wants PPP to reach out to PTI but that is not gonna happen because PTI is grabbing the mic and screaming, we dont want you.
PMLN is actively working to break some PTI-independent members and news is coming that they are in contact with some 20-25 members and PTI is trying to rally them. The more members PMLN has, the stronger their position will be.

On 29th session will be held where such votes will be cast and after that the next session will be held in a month or so, earlier if possible to remove alvi because there is a chance that if or when pti loses the premier and speaker elections, they may pressurize alvi to create a constitutional crisis by calling the assembly defunct and breaking it although chance of that happening is very small but it is being talked in the PTI circles.

It is difficult to keep up at the moment.
I've given up trying.

 

[Saiyan0321]

It is difficult to keep up at the moment.
I've given up trying.

The party has just got more complicated. So PPP has announced that while they will support government formation by PMLN aka election of PM, they will not join the government and will sit in the opposition. So while this may sound very sacrificial as bilawal stated that he doesnt want any ministries or perks, this is anything but because now you have a weak minority party sitting in the government and the majority sitting in the opposition so for every bill, for every budget, for every no confidence motion that PTI will throw every week at the government, they will milk PMLN dry with perk after perk for demand. Rather than taking putting demands one time and getting cabinet ministries, they decided to place a hundred demands in 5 years for small perks to strengthen their influence. Zardari's political skills are indeed second to none, especially infront of a foolish nawaz and a naive imran. This is getting ridiculous.
A minority party will form a government. That is a recipe for disaster. PMLN should take a stand and just back off and tell PTI to form their government.

 

[Saiyan0321]

PTI to ally with Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in Punjab and Centre, with Jamaat-i-Islami in KP​

The PTI has decided to form a coalition in Centre and Punjab with the Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen (MWM) as per the instructions of party founder Imran Khan, the party’s Central Information Secretary Raoof Hasan announced on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Hasan relayed decisions that Imran, who is incarcerated in Adiala Jail over a variety of cases, made regarding the party’s course of action for government formation.

“We are going towards the formation of a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We are also going to double our efforts for a government in the Centre and we will also look at what to do about the Punjab government.

“He (Imran) has approved [of a coalition] with two parties. We will form a coalition with the MWM in the Centre and Punjab and a coalition with the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) in KP for the reserved seats. These are his decisions and we will implement them, we have already begun work on them.”

Hasan said the PTI founder also sanctioned the name of the party’s KP president Ali Amin Gandapur to make the government in the province where the party has a three-fourth majority.

“He has also said that we have to continue our political struggle. He has singled out three parties — PML-N, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and PPP — but apart from them he has given me the mandate to initiate contact with all other political parties and sit down with them so we give birth to a coalition partnership which will struggle for democratic authority, not just authority.”

Hasan said that Amir Dogar was also reappointed as the party’s chief whip in the National Assembly (NA).

He said Imran also issued instructions for intra-party elections to be held as soon as possible, adding that he would try to carry out the task as soon as possible since he was responsible for it.

“As per our estimates, around 180 seats were PTI’s in the NA but whatever has come after reducing them is before you. The first precondition according to him (Imran) is that a government be allowed to form according to the mandate the nation has given and be allowed to continue because only this would make it possible to increase confidence and investment of overseas Pakistanis.”

The spokesperson claimed that around 65 seats were “stolen” from the party, demanding that they should be returned promptly.

“He (Imran) said that the power wielders at this time should think and take heed about what they’re doing. His message was that whoever has won the election has the right to form the government and should be given the right to do so,” Hasan added.

JI yet to give final answer, MWM says it is Imran’s own party​

Meanwhile, JI Central Information Secretary Qaisar Sharif told Geo News that the two parties held talks soon after the elections and the JI had given an unconditional “positive response” to the PTI of “providing protection” to its independent candidates.

The JI representative said the PTI’s proposal for a coalition government in KP was discussed in a meeting in Islamabad today, adding that the JI did not give a final answer on the matter as of yet. However, he said, the JI will hold consultations and give a reply to the PTI.

MWM chief Allama Raja Nasir Abbas welcomed his party’s alliance with the PTI, saying that his party stood by Imran since the events of ‘regime change’ in April 2022 and would continue to do so “till the last drop of our blood”.

“We want unity in Pakistan and desires to see this country progress,” Allama Abbas told Geo News.

Abbas said his party had no greed or made any demands from the PTI. “We have a principled stand that what happened [with the PTI] was wrong.”

The MWM chief regretted laws were enacted recently to suppress the PTI, adding that promoting certain political parties through an agenda should not happen in a democratic culture.

“I hope sanity prevails now. We have told Imran that we are with him on his principles until the last drop of our blood,” he told the TV channel.

He separately said in a post on X that the MWM was Imran’s own party and “he can decide whatever he wants regarding this party, we will accept it unconditionally and willingly.”

PTI to ally with Majlis Wahdat-i-Muslimeen in Punjab and Centre, with Jamaat-i-Islami in KP

Raoof Hasan says Imran has given instructions to make contact with all political parties except PML-N, PPP, MQM-P.

www.dawn.com

I am really curious about how PTI will bridge the legal issue of MWM reserved seat. Latif Khoas's interpretation that these are still PTI seats is questionable to say the least. His constitutional understanding and interpretation has been all over the place in political interpretation ever since he joined PTI. Hard to believe that in 2007, he was in the team that authored the electoral fraud report. PTI will need to focus on their legal understanding before taking any step,

 

[Saiyan0321]

PPP to support PML-N prime minister candidate, says Bilawal​

Party chairman speaks to media following high-level party meeting
The PPP will support the prime minister candidate of PML-N, said party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari following the meeting of the Central Executive Committee (CEC) in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Bilawal said the PPP will also not seek any ministries at the federal level and his party has accepted the election results, despite concerns, in the larger interest of the country.

"We do not want the country to hold another election, going towards another general election will only harm the country," said the scion of Bhutto dynasty while addressing the media.


He added that if the PPP had not joined the PML-N, the country would have suffered. "It can not be that one party always raises objections against poll results."

“We want all the political parties to address the shortcomings so that no one can point fingers at elections the next time. We will also utilise available forums like ECP, parliament in addressing these issues," said Bilawal.

"We want a government at the Centre which should be allowed to function.

"I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of the prime minister of Pakistan," said Bilawal and added that the PML-N and independents have a greater number at the Centre.

The PPP leader said the decision to support PML-N was taken after the PTI refused to form a coalition with the party, leaving the PML-N as the only party that had invited the PPP to join the government.

The PPP chairman elaborated that he "personally wants [his father] Asif Ali Zardari to be the next president". "The country is burning and the only person who can control the situation is Zardari."

“In conclusion, the PPP has made the decision that we may not be a part of the government but we will engage with political parties on the issue of votes and the election of prime minister.

“I am assuring the public that the parliament will be formed and it is a forum where their issues will be resolved,” Bilawal said.

A day earlier, the PPP CEC deliberated on different suggestions and proposals. Former president Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari chaired the CEC meeting of the party at Zardari House, Islamabad.

Following the post-Feb 8 vote whirlwind, where no party emerged as a simple majority, the PML-N and PPP have been engaged in a strategic tango to form a central government with the support of their allies.

The PML-N, in particular, is burning the midnight oil to piece together a government at the Centre, and in Punjab and Balochistan.

Bilawal wants to see Zardari become president | The Express Tribune

PPP chairman say his party won’t join govt

tribune.com.pk

PPP will have a field day for 5 years. However while PPP will enjoy the party for five years, General Munir will be looking for an extension, military will be happy that they have successfully neutralized the 2/3rd granting province, PMLN will be busy with keeping their government and PTI will be looking for the revolution, the people of Pakistan will continue to suffer everyday as inflation will continue and any attempt to protest against this economic crisis will be met with state repression and crackdown. Everybody will win, one way or the other, apart from the people of the region who cant remember the last time they won.

 

[Saiyan0321]

PTI reacts strongly to PPP's decision to support PML-N's PM candidate​

Bilawal’s announcement of not becoming part of govt only aimed at hoodwinking the masses, says spokesperson

In a fiery response to Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's press conference, where he announced support for the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)'s prime ministerial candidate while refraining from participating in the government at the Centre, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has unleashed a barrage of criticisms.

According to a statement issued by a spokesperson for PTI on Tuesday, Bilawal's move is merely a ploy to deceive the public after being rejected in the elections. The spokesperson accused the remnants of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) of orchestrating a new drama, describing their actions as an attempt to mislead the people.

"If Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari's thinking were truly democratic, he would have recognised the available public mandate to PTI instead of siding with the pirates of Jati Umrah, the Sharif family," the PTI spokesperson declared, adding that the PPP has a dark history regarding the recognition of public mandates.

The spokesperson further criticized Bilawal's attempt to keep his family's political legacy alive through alleged corruption and power-sharing influenced by Zardari's cues. Drawing on historical events, the PTI spokesperson asserted that PPP's facilitation had once led to the secession of Pakistan’s eastern wing, now known as Bangladesh, due to open contempt for public mandate.



Also read: PPP to support PML-N prime minister candidate, says Bilawal

"Today, Zardari's son is trying to keep his family and hereditary politics alive through blatant corruption and power-sharing on Zardari's cues," the spokesperson remarked.

The PTI spokesperson emphasised that Bilawal's distancing from the PML-N after the distribution of constitutional, government, and parliamentary positions would not sway public opinion. The spokesperson vowed to destroy what they termed as "disgusting plans" aimed at securing the future of current and future generations by holding them hostage.

Highlighting the ideological differences, the spokesperson underscored that PTI, founded by Imran Khan, sees the PPP and the PML-N as two sides of the same coin, responsible for economic challenges and inflation in the country.

"Imran Khan is making unprecedented sacrifices to change the rotten system of which both of them are beneficiaries and want to strengthen and sustain it," the PTI spokesperson asserted.

The spokesperson concluded by reiterating PTI's commitment to thwarting any conspiracies or behind-the-scenes machinations, promising to make the country and its people safe from what they perceive as the harmful influence of PPP and PML-N.

He confidently stated that whether it be government formation or opposition responsibilities, PTI holds the majority mandate and will ensure the country's safety from the alleged schemes of its rivals.

PTI reacts strongly to PPP's decision to support PML-N | The Express Tribune

Bilawal’s announcement of not becoming part of govt only aimed at hoodwinking the masses, says spokesperson

tribune.com.pk